Who Let The Vote Out
by Grykon
Summary: Continuing the Uncivil War story line, a retelling of 3x07 We're Gonna Need A Bigger Vote AU 50.006 Progress in Walter's PTSD and Paige's anxiety is being made, when the Secret Service comes calling with a personal request from the President.
1. Chapter 1

**Good afternoon dear Readers, what can I say, this story wanted to be told and so I indulged it. To the Adventure! -Tim**

* * *

It'd been a week and two sessions with Dr Rizzuto and Paige felt like things were going so much better for her and Walter. They'd been sleeping through the night the last three nights, and that alone made everything better. Loud noises were still problematic for Walter, especially if they were unexpected and sounded like metal against metal like the Garage door. Happy had finally developed a stopper for the door that no matter how it was closed; the door stopped a half inch away and then slowly closed so there was no more loud impacts.

The Garage phone ringing turned out to be another big trigger for Walter. Sylvester worked out a solution for that. Tying the server dialup modem into the phone system, and turning off all the ringers on the phones, the server would give a vocal message of an incoming phone call. Walter and Paige had thanked Cabe but refused his offer to take them to and from their appointments with Dr Rizzuto and they always took their lunch before an appointment as a date.

Their first dinner date last week started off great but a careless accident in the back had caused quite a sharp noise as about twenty pots and pans crashed to the floor and Walter had been so unnerved it took Paige almost five minutes to help him calm back down. Thankfully the maître d' had a brother, who suffered from PTSD, and after Walter had finally recovered, she insisted they stay and finish their meals. To help preserve Walter's dignity she moved them to an area that had been reserved for a special function, but since there was some time before the start they were able to finish their date without further complications. She gave them her business card and just told them to let her know when they wanted to come in and she'd do her best to make sure they'd have the best dining experience possible.

* * *

Ralph walked up to Walter's desk, holding his tablet up before his face. "Here we have an average citizen, may I ask you as a voter what your concerns are since today is Election Day?"

Walter looked up and blinked, "Well, I'm not average and I'm not a citizen so I can't vote."

Ralph lowered his tablet, "Seriously? This is for my civics grade." He raised the tablet back up and Walter looked at him.

"Oh, well my concern would be the length of time for patent approvals. I have a number of inventions waiting for approval which I believe will help society," Ralph rolled his eyes and walked away before he could finish.

"Hey Ralphy, turned that camera over here." Cabe told him.

Ralph walked over and held up his tablet, "Here we have a citizen who has been possibly voting for a half century."

"Not relevant," Cabe told him. "My concern is technology. Take Happy's thermostat, I couldn't get the thermostat set so I called the Doc, I yelled into that thing for 20 minutes and it never did work, did it Doc?"

Toby fell over on his couch laughing. "What's so funny?" Cabe asked.

"Cabe, the thermostat isn't voice controlled." Happy told him.

"Are you kidding me? I yelled into that crap pile until I couldn't talk." Cabe swore as he looked at Toby as he howled in laughter on the couch.

Paige came walking down the stairs from the loft carrying her tablet as she saw Ralph walk away from Cabe, "How's your civics project going?"

"Awful, I got to go edit this crap pile." Ralph told her. Cabe spit his mouthful of coffee back into his cup as he made a hasty retreat to the kitchen.

"Where did he learn a phrase like that?" Paige looked at Walter.

"Not from me," Walter answered her honestly.

* * *

Three men in suits walked through the door into the Garage. "Scorpion, your government needs you." The lead man said out loud as he walked over to Walter and Paige.

"I'm agent Bush, agents Hart and Govelli." He gestured at the other two agents.

"The matter is time sensitive and we can't waste too much standing here briefing you. Where we got to go there is no way to make allowance for Mr. O'Brien's current condition so he'll have to stay behind, we know of what happened last time you had to stay behind so agent Hart will stay back with you to make sure you are safe. The rest of you I need to come with us. Your coms are permitted but no devices that can record or log your location can be brought." Agent Bush told them.

Cabe stepped up out of the kitchen, "Agent Cabe Gallo."

"Agent Gallo," agent Bushed turned and handed him a letter, "The President expects your full cooperation."

Toby saw the look of panic on Paige's face and walked over, "Maybe you know about Walter but you obviously don't know about Paige and she can not come with us without either Walter or her tablet. So you need to decide which of your two requirements can be violated or she is going to have to stay behind."

"Impossible, she may well be needed to assist you in getting to the bottom of this. Coms is the best we can do and Mr. O'Brien you are not permitted to record the chatter nor to try and hack where the signal's location is." Agent Bush told him.

"Guys, this is signed by the big man himself. We've got to take this seriously." Cabe told them.

"I get that Cabe but Paige simply can not function in her normal capacity without one of two things. And as her primary Dr I refuse to allow her to be subjected to that level of duress. You try to force her out of here without that tablet or Walter and she will simply collapse into hysterics. She simply isn't ready for that yet and I will not permit that." Toby stood between Paige and agent Bush with his arms crossed.

"Look if this is really that time sensitive and you can't take me with you, your only option is to leave Paige here with me, otherwise give me five minutes and I can alter her tablet so it can't record anything and it wouldn't allow for any location marking. It's already set so it can only query the Garage's camera system. If you trust me not to record or ping the coms then that shouldn't be an issue." Walter told them.

Agent Bush looked at him and finally nodded.

Paige handed the tablet over to Walter and he quickly entered the bios. Paige reached up and put her hand on Toby's shoulder, "Thank you." She whispered softly.

Toby nodded, "Of course."

Walter finished the alterations in less than three minutes and pulled up the camera interface and handed it back. He could see the worry in her face and he smiled, "It'll be okay, I'm sure agent Hart is competent."

Paige kissed Walter deeply, "When it comes to you I don't want competent I want masterful."

Walter smiled, "I love you too." He slipped a burner phone into her jacket pocket, "Just in case."

Paige's eyes got big and she nodded as she turned to leave with the others, "Cabe," Walter said.

Cabe walked back over, "What's up kid?"

Walter looked at Paige, "Protect her."

Cabe nodded as he looked at Paige as she said goodbye to Ralph. "Remember, help keep an eye on Walter, you know who to call if something goes wrong right?"

Ralph nodded, "I got Rusty's number on speed dial."

Paige smiled as she kissed the top of his head, "Good boy, I love you."

* * *

They'd been gone about five minutes when Walter looked at the pile of electronics left on Toby's desk and he saw Toby's tablet laying there, looking at Ralph at Paige's desk he unlocked his chair and rolled back and then over to his desk and pulled Toby's tablet out of the pile and then rolled back over to his desk.

"What are you doing Mr. O'Brien?" Agent Hart inquired.

"Oh, just figured I would go through and make sure that everyone's devices are up to date software wise, since I don't really have much to do right now." Walter told him.

Agent Hart nodded as he sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

Ralph looked at him, "The devices are automatically updated every morning. What are you doing?"

Walter smiled, "Can't pull one over on you can I buddy?"

Ralph shook his head, "That didn't answer the question either."

Walter laughed as Ralph quickly caught on.

"Uh, 197, are you losing it back there?" Toby asked.

Walter shook his head, "No, just amused at just how intelligent Ralph really is."

Walter quickly hacked passed Toby's log in and pulled up his video files. "Gross, don't tell me you are hoping to see something between Toby and Happy?"

Walter was shocked as he'd didn't even see Ralph walk over to see what he was doing.

Paige looked in puzzlement at her tablet as saw Walter looking at a tablet.

Walter grimaced and shook his head no. But that gave him pause as he looked at three different videos. One of them was the video of his assault, the other two, either, neither or both could be video of Happy and that prospect threw him off as he tried to figure out which might be which. All three had dates following his attack and he wasn't sure what date he'd copied the video over. One was the day after his attack, one two days after and the third was the day before he came home.

She watched as Walter took in a deep breath, and he pressed his finger against the tablet not knowing he had selected the video that was from one day after his attack. The video came up and showed him answering Paige's phone as Tim slipped into the Garage and stepped closer, and he saw Tim's hand to his head holding his phone. Tim's mouth move as Walter recalled Tim's voice, "I know what you did you son of a bitch."

She saw him swallow hard but couldn't see the sweat that broke out on his forehead as he watched himself turn around and Tim swung and nearly knocked him completely out of the wheelchair and then Tim slugged him hard the other way. She watched as Walter's head involuntarily jerked the same directions in the video as those punches came back clear as day to his mind.

He could almost feel himself being lifted up in the air as he watched Tim lift him up and slammed him hard onto Paige's desk. "What are you watching?" Paige demanded through the coms, "Are you watching that security video on Toby's tablet?"

Walter was spooked so bad he nearly threw the tablet into the air, and he scrambled quickly as he tried to recover his grasp on it, and he quickly shut it down. He looked up at the camera, "Damn it Walter, you agreed to wait to watch it. You give that tablet to Ralph this minute." Walter hesitantly gave it to Ralph.

"Ooh, someone's in trouble! *ow*" Toby exclaimed through the coms.

Paige pulled out her coms, "You made me leave my phone at the Garage, I need your phone now," Paige told agent Bush. He reluctantly gave it to her and she quickly called the Garage.

"Scorpion, Walter O'Brien speaking." Walter answered the phone.

"Tell me something I don't know," Paige said with deep anger. "Put Ralph on the phone now," Paige demanded. Walter held the phone out and Ralph took it.

"Hey Mom," Ralph answered.

"Ralphy, you take that tablet up to the loft and put it someplace safe, some place Walter can't get to it, do you hear me? And don't you dare watch the video that Walter was watching." Paige told him.

Ralph looked up at the camera and nodded his head. He looked at Walter and handed him back the phone, "Sorry."

Walter smiled, "Its okay Buddy, it's my fault."

"Hey love," Walter said into the phone.

"Oh yea, call me love now. Do you know how stupid that was? Did you even realize how you were reacting to that video? Walter, I need you, we were just starting to make some good progress. That could seriously set you back. I know what happened to you is a burning curiosity to you but you were reliving everything that was going on in that video and don't try and deny it. I saw it happening. Please baby," Paige pleaded with him.

"You're right love, it was so overwhelming, I didn't expect it to be that hard. I never should have tried to watch it. I thought I was ready for it." Walter looked up at the camera.

"I love you Walter, I'm going back on coms now." Paige told him as she hung up and handed the phone back to agent Bush and put her coms back in her ear.

Ralph looked around the loft for a good place when he walked into the bathroom and looking at the bathroom vanity. He opened the doors and saw a small shelf way back and started to put the tablet back in there when he stopped and looked out the bathroom door and closed the door and sat down on the toilet seat and hacked past Toby's login and hit the file icon and selected the video that was in the most recently played section and his eyes opened wide as he realized what he was looking at. He paused the video as it picked up where Walter had stopped it and he moved the slider back to the beginning and hit play.

Ralph was completely horrified at what Tim had done to Walter and he was slightly less so when Rusty had entered and killed Tim. Tears ran down his face and he quickly turned it off and put it on the small shelf under the sink and he ran downstairs and jumped into Walter's lap and wrapped his arms around him and cried.

Walter was shocked and confused and he wrapped his arms around Ralph, "What's wrong Ralph?"

Ralph shook his head and Walter seemed to understand as he looked up at the loft. "Oh Ralph' please tell me you didn't watch that video?"

Ralph slowly nodded his head. "I'm so sorry Tim hurt you so bad Dad. I didn't realize what all he did to you," Ralph sobbed.

Tears flooded Paige's eyes when she heard Walter's question to Ralph. Looking at the tablet her heart was breaking.

"Buddy, I'm so sorry, I was so stupid for trying to look at it, and I'm even more stupid for doing it when you were here where you could see it." Walter cradled him as he hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry, so very sorry."

Walter, with tears in his eyes, looked up at the camera, "Paige, I'm so sorry."

Toby looked over Paige's shoulder at the video feed, he pulled out his coms and showed Paige who was still crying and she pulled hers out as well. "Actually, this might be a good thing. It has actually forced Walter into a new role as a comforter. I'll talk with Ralph when we get back but I am sure he'll be okay over the video so don't worry about that. It's helping him a little too emotionally as he is empathizing with Walter over what happened."

Paige nodded her head and slid her coms back in. "Walter, I would like to speak to Ralphy," Paige told him.

Walter looked up and nodded his head, "Buddy, your Mom would like to say something to you." Walter pulled his coms out and slid it gently into Ralph's ear.

"Ralphy, are you okay?" Paige asked.

Ralph nodded, "I'm sorry Mom, I should have listened to you. I can't believe how bad Tim hurt Dad."

"I know baby, when we get back Toby is going to talk to you about it to help you process it." Paige told him.

"If you want, I don't really need that, it just hurt me so bad for what Tim did to Dad. The violence itself wasn't so bad; it's just how much it had to have hurt Dad that bothers me so much." Ralph told her.

Paige smiled, "Okay baby, but I still want Toby to talk to you when we get back, okay?"

Ralph up at the camera and smiled and nodded.

"Give Walter his coms back now baby, we're at our destination." Paige told him.

Ralph pulled the com out and handed it to Walter and he went back to hugging on Walter as Walter slid the coms in. "Paige, I really am sorry," Walter told her.

"I know baby, we'll talk about this more when this case if over. We're at our destination at the waterfront." Paige told him.

Walter's face grew puzzled, "Waterfront? That's odd, wait; that must be an underwater data server."


	2. Chapter 2

"Walter, I don't think I can do this." Sylvester said nervously over the coms.

"Sly, you most certainly can do this. Now slow down a moment and just look at the screen, what's the first thing that strikes you about what you are seeing?" Walter asked.

"This would be so much easier if I could have brought my laptop to analysis this." Sylvester complained.

"Sly, listen to what Walter told you. You can do this." Paige told him.

Sylvester nodded and he stared at the data, "The server is over heating because the votes are actually being sent back out of the server. There's a Trojan horse program running on the server."

"Excellent work Sly, now you just got to figure out when and from where the Trojan horse was applied to the server." Walter told him.

Sylvester nodded as he continued his diagnostic of the server, "This morning, looks like it came from this IP." Sylvester rattled it off as Walter did a search and found that the IP was tied to a national news production company's local facility and he relayed the address to the team.

* * *

Ralph walked back over to Walter after he finished interviewing agent Hart for his civics project. "Hey buddy, did you finally get a good interview?" Walter asked.

"It was certainly better than what I got earlier." Ralph gave him a wry smile. Walter just laughed in response. "Can I ask you something? Privately," Ralph looked almost pleading at Walter.

"Of course buddy, anything." Walter told him. "I'm going off coms for a moment guys," Walter said before pulling his coms out.

"Is it okay that I called you Dad earlier?" Ralph asked almost fearful.

Walter smiled, "It's more than okay if that's how you feel buddy. I know I meant what I said to Dr Froud about you being my boy. You'll always be mine as far as I am concerned."

Ralph smiled and hugged Walter tightly, "Thank you."

Paige smiled as she watched Ralph and Walter embrace.

* * *

The team found a news company's representative was very forth coming in helping them with their investigation. That was until they needed to see some video footage from their cameras. Then she clammed up like she was Fort Knox. Toby's mind was working fast as he observed several things and came up with a plan to let Happy and Cabe waltz right into their film vault and get the footage they needed. It all hinged on his ability to be as annoying and as antagonizing as he could. "No sweat," Toby told them.

"Okay, we got a problem here. That's the President's chief of staff, Sophia Vasquez." Sylvester told them looking at the video feed after Happy and Cabe brought it out of the vault.

"Oh boy, they must be trying to swing the vote." Paige said. "What are we going to do?"

"You guys are going to have to get her tablet, if you can get that and get me a copy of the Trojan horse I can create a fix from it and then you'd only have to take it back to the server and upload it and it would reverse everything done." Walter told them.

Paige looked at agent Bush, "You're probably not going to want to hear this but, we need you to take us to where Sophia Vasquez is right now. We have to get her tablet so Walter can reverse the hack that is stealing the votes from the server."

Agent Bush looked at agent Govelli and sighed. "We'll have to go to Air Force One."

* * *

Against Toby's advice Paige insisted that instead of being sneaky they just approach Sophia Vasquez straight and appeal to her logically. Walter quickly agreed with her, Paige wasn't sure if he was serious or trying to compensate for his actions over the security footage but she decided to accept it as genuine support.

"Look, I understand how it looks but I can assure you there is no way I could have done what you are suggesting." Sophia Vasquez told them.

"May we examine your tablet from this morning Ms. Vasquez?" Paige asked.

Sophia turned and picked the tablet up off the table behind her and handed it to Paige who passed it to Sylvester. Sylvester quickly examined it, "Walter, she's right, someone did something to just make it look like she did this. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner."

"That's okay buddy, ask Ms Vasquez if it's okay if you turn on its wifi and let me examine her tablet from here." Walter told him over the coms.

"Ms Vasquez, our boss, Walter O'Brien wants to know if we can activate your tablet's wifi so he can connect to it to see if he can figure out who is setting you up." Paige told her.

Sophia nodded her head and watched as Sylvester turned on the wifi and then looked up the IP assigned to it and gave it to Walter.

"Okay, at first glance I am not seeing anything, wait, I recognize these markers. These are from the Chinese consulate downtown." Walter told them.

* * *

It took agent Bush about thirty minutes to secure an unmarked tech van and a couple of extra agents to be used to help Scorpion to infiltrate the consulate. Sophia made a phone call and arranged getting them inside as an advance team to double check security to allow for the President to come over so they could discuss a particular issue the Chinese wanted US support for.

"Alright guys, I am synced with the computer system in the van, find the computer and connect to the van's wifi and I will be able to interface with it and I'll be able to reverse what they'd done." Walter told them over their coms.

"Alright Walter, we're on our way." Cabe told him.

The black non-descript van sat just across the street from the Chinese Consulate and Paige, Sylvester and Toby watched out the back as the secret service car drove down the street. The car stopped outside of the main gate and waited for admittance and then slowly pulled in and parked. Happy and Cabe stepped out of the car along with agents Bush, Govelli and two other agents and as they walked up to the door they were greeted by a member of the consulate.

After a short exchange they were escorted into the building and shown around the lower level to demonstrate the safety measures as they awaited the arrival of the President. As they entered a large conference room Toby told them about the door they passed on their right. Their guide had purposely steered them clear of it. Agent Bush pointed at Happy and Cabe, "Agents Gallo and Quinn, you both stay here while we check out the second floor."

After they'd left Happy and Cabe stepped out to the door and Happy pulled out her lock pick tools and quickly unlocked the door and they entered the room. They found a laptop running on the desk and Happy quickly stepped up and began working to connect it to the van's wifi signal when another door in the room opened and a man walked out buttoning his pants. "Oh gross," Sylvester said, as Cabe's video pen relayed the image to the van, "He must not have washed his hands."

The man yelled as Cabe jumped him, "Run Happy."

* * *

Happy took off with the laptop and ran up a back set of stairs to the second floor where she was confronted by another consulate member, slamming the man in the stomach with the laptop she turned ran the other way as he gasped for breath. Passing through a double set of doors she stopped long enough to close both doors and blocked them. Putting the laptop on the table she completed the connection to the van's wifi. "Good work Happy, I see it, give me a few minutes," Walter told her.

"I don't know if we have a few minutes Walt, hurry." Happy told him as angry voices outside the door began beating on the door.

"Happy, get out of there with the laptop, now," Toby yelled.

Happy closed the laptop and carried it over to the window and looked out. Seeing the parking lot she opened the window, stuffing the laptop into her shirt just as the door gave way to the men beating on it. She leapt down, tucking and rolling; she stood up and ran for the gate as a guard ran out of the first floor. Toby jumped out of the van and ran for the gate. Just as Happy got a few feet away, the guard took aim and fired a shot and struck Happy in the back. Toby ducked as the bullet flew right past him. Her eyes opened wide as she threw the laptop up into the air as she fell forward.

"Happy," Toby exclaimed.

"Grabbed the laptop," Happy choked out.

Walter finished his analysis of the laptop's software and was able to reverse the Trojan horse and Sylvester was able to confirm that the votes were being sent back to the server.

* * *

It was an intense standoff at the gate of the consulate with Cabe, Bush and Govelli and the other agents held at gunpoint and Happy laying there as her blood began running down the slight incline towards the street. Toby in near panic at Happy's condition nearly caved several times but Happy's bark kept him from just throwing the laptop back over. Finally with an agreement reached, and the laptop executing Walter's doomsday protocol, Toby gave them the laptop while the secret service got Happy up, and with Toby riding along, they rushed her to the hospital, meanwhile Cabe ran out, and got in the van and they took off after them.

* * *

Walter waited until they got to the hospital before he demanded that agent Hart take him and Ralph to the hospital to be with their friends.

Cabe had held Paige as she clung to him the entire time after Walter left the cameras of the Garage until she saw him come through the door and she finally relaxed a little.

Ralph ran up to his Mom and Paige hugged him tightly for several long minutes before she proceeded to chew him out for disobeying her but then she hugged him fiercely again before she turned her attention and anger on Walter.

Walter on the other hand, who was already near tears when they came in had parked his wheelchair in a far corner and watched fearfully. How many relationships had failed because he really screwed up, and this one was a doozy, not only had he jeopardized his own well being, he'd exposed Ralph to extreme violence, and inflicted onto someone he knew and loved.

He was literally cringing as she approached him, "I can not believe you did this Walter, what's your first rule?" Paige demanded of him.

Shocked at first, Walter looked down in shame as he said weakly, "I only state facts."

"So which is it Walter? You promised me not to watch that video until we decided together. So either you lied to me about that or you are lying about only stating facts. And look at me when we're talking." Paige demanded.

Walter slowly looked up, "I'm sorry."

"Stop it," Paige interrupted him. "I'm not looking for an apology Walter, you apologized earlier. I'm looking for the truth."

Walter hung his head as all those fears of screwing up kept running through his head, "I only speak the truth," Walter started to say.

"Damn it Walter, look at me when you are talking to me." Walter looked up as tears ran down his face. "I need to see your eyes; I need you to see mine. I need you to know why this is important to me. And I need to know what was so damn important about that video that you would risk your well being and our happiness to see it?"

"Morbid curiosity," Walter said weakly. "It was the closest I had been to death. And while I knew what had been done, I-I don't really remember it clearly."

With tears in her eyes, "Do you understand why I'm so mad at you over this?"

Walter nodded, "Because I exposed Ralph to unacceptable violence against someone he cares about."

"No, Walter, because of what it could do to you emotionally. You heard what Dr Rizzuto said about the video after I sent him a copy. 'Under no circumstance were you supposed to watch it'. Hell, even Toby said that. I know you are a genius and you almost always do what you think because normally you are always right, but this is not something you have very much experience in and you need to listen to the experts over your own thoughts." Paige told him. "Also, because of my past I don't handle lies well Walter and I really hate when someone does something behind my back," she finished.

"You're right Paige, they were both right and I was completely wrong. I was not prepared for what I saw. Are-are you leaving me now," Walter asked with a sinking feeling.

Paige looked at him in shock, "Why would you think that?"

"It's what everyone does when they get mad at me for having done something stupid." Walter told her.

"If I was going to leave you I wouldn't waste my time trying to make you understand my point or ask you why you did what you did. I'd cuss you out and just leave." Paige told him with a smile playing at the edge of her mouth.

"What about what I did to Ralph?" Walter asked.

"Well I'm not happy about that, but he just confessed to me that he had been trying to find a copy of that video since he heard us talking to Toby about it the other day. It seems when it comes to morbid curiosity, like father like son." Paige told him with a smile.

Walter smiled weakly.

* * *

Walter heard his phone ring, "Joyce Linehan". Walter hit accept, "Joyce, good evening. Sure, you can come by; well, actually we're at the hospital again. What?" Walter grinned, "No, this time it isn't me. Actually it was Happy this time; she was shot during a case. A clean through and through, fortunately nothing vital was hit; she'll be in the hospital for a few days after surgery. Okay, we'll see you shortly. Thank you."

"Well, while we got a minute," Paige turned and sat down on Walter's lap and put her arms around his neck, "I love you." She told him as she kissed him.

Walter smiled as he kissed her back, "I love you."

Paige looked over at Toby and seeing the misery he was in, "Is it horrible of me to want to go over and rub his nose in it?"

Walter frowned, "Rub his nose in what?"

Paige laughed, "Maybe you forgot, but that morning before Tim attacked you, Toby accused you of taking risks for the glory. Now I could go over and ask if he still feels the same way."

Walter smiled, "No, he's miserable enough right now. Wait until she's out of the hospital."

They both laughed.

* * *

"Did she say what she wanted?" Cabe asked.

Walter shook his head, "Just that she needed to stop by to see me."

Cabe nodded.

The inner door of the ER opened and Joyce strolled in and looked about and saw Paige raise her hand as Walter did as Paige had suggested and did his best to look distraught and distracted. The slight bit of dried tear trails on his face felt nasty but Paige refused to let him go clean them off so Joyce would see he had been crying and attribute them to how he was feeling about Happy being shot.

"Walter, I am so sorry about your wife, I hope things are still looking up for her." Joyce told him as she stepped over and actually hugged him.

Walter cringed but returned her hug. "Thank you, so far there hasn't been any further word.

Joyce smiled at Walter after she broke the hug. "Well I really only came by to give you something." She bent down close to his face and whispered, "Something to consider going forward. If for some reason something should happen between you and Happy, there is someone else in your life that would welcome the chance to be with you." Walter looked over to where she nodded and saw Paige as she stood talking to Cabe and Ralph. Joyce reached into her purse, "Normally these things are handled differently but I got a phone call an hour ago to bring this to you tonight," Joyce raised her voice, "Congratulations, you're now a citizen of the United States of America." Joyce smiled as she held out his Permanent Resident card.

Cabe stepped over and clapped him on his shoulder, "Congratulations son."

Ralph jumped into Walter's lap and hugged him tightly, "Congratulations Dad."

Walter was smiling and Paige stepped over and kissed his cheek, "Congratulations Walter."

Walter was showing Ralph and Paige his new citizenship card and Joyce stepped over to Cabe, "You know, as I recall, when you and I first met, we didn't get off on the right foot. And I know that is my fault, so many times these things are just a scam and I have to really keep my guard up or people will get away with things. But if I might be so bold, if you'd like to ask, I'd be agreeable to going out to dinner sometime."

Cabe smiled, "Really? Well, you got any plans for Friday night?"

Joyce smiled and shook her head no.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this retelling of 3x07. I found out today my story 'Farewell' got published in a online magazine! My first publication! Woohoo! You can see it at ****amillionandonemagazine dot com in your url and click on 'creative writing' then click 'stories and articles' and see it! **

**Tonight is the 2 hour conclusion to the Crisis on Infinite Earth story on the CW so I am not sure I will have a story for tomorrow. Sorry. To the Adventure! -Tim**


End file.
